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These Are Things

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio has been in the news recently for recent transgressions involving the historic Ohio State University football team and its head coach, Jim Tressel. Allegedly, this powerful NCAA Division 1 program is in violation of NCAA policy regarding the receipt of “impermissible benefits to amateur athletes” including car deals and cash exchanges for memorabilia. In a city enamored with the successes and failures of their university and its athletic achievements, this news hits extraordinarily hard. There is more in Columbus than football, however…Ballista Magazine would like to introduce an equally talented yet relatively obscure design agency as today’s Featured Firm: These Are Things of Columbus, Ohio!

These Are Things was established in 2009 as a collaborative design effort spearheaded by founders Jen Adrion and Omar Noory. The firm specializes in “design and illustration with a cartographic twist”, evidenced by their fantastic modern interpretations of world and city maps (shown in the gallery below). The age-old debate regarding map-making and cartography centers around the dosage of relevant information — how much is too much? Rather than focusing on extraneous or antiquated notions of landmarks and way-finding, These Are Things organizes only the most pertinent information and presents it in a minimal, yet gorgeous graphic style. As world travelers themselves, Jen and Omar have used these experiences to craft beautiful and, perhaps more important, functional modern maps. Excellent work!

For more of this Midwestern duo’s great cartographic and/or illustration work, please visit their website and purchase prints from their Online Store! To keep up with their various endeavors, you can also follow These Are Things on Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, and Flickr. We have one more design feature for you this week coming to you tomorrow and will begin next week with our landmark 3ooth feature!